Calamity Jena (Invertary Book 4) (20 page)

“Matt, look who’s come to visit.” Her smile was tight enough to crack a tooth. “It’s my mom. Mom, this is Matt, my…”

“Boyfriend.” Matt held out his hand as Jena looked like she was going to choke. “I was lucky enough to snap Jena up when she came to town. There have been guys queuing up to date her.”

Her mother tried to hide her shock as she shook his hand. She held it a minute longer than was polite. He had the urge to rub his palm on his leg when she released him.

“You’re a cop?” She lifted an eyebrow in Jena’s direction. “You never told me you were dating a cop.”

“You never asked,” Jena muttered.

“They must grow them big in Scotland,” Jena’s mother told Matt, making him cringe. “Call me Mona.” Her smile was sultry. Her laidback tone completely different to the one she’d been using with her daughter. She let out a throaty chuckle before he could say anything. “I know what you’re going to say. I get it all the time. Folk are generally shocked I have a grown daughter. We look more like sisters.” She cast a snide glance Jena’s way. “Although if you keep dressing like that, honey, they’ll think you’re the mother.” She laughed again. It was forced and nasty.

“No,” Matt said. “I wasn’t going to say that. You definitely look like her mother.” He turned away from her shocked expression to look down at Jena. “Your mum has a great sense of humour.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. “Nobody would take one look at you both and think you were older. Hell, you don’t have the same wrinkles she does, for a start.”

Mona gasped. “They said Scottish men were tactless.”

Matt gave her a smile that often got him out of trouble as a teen. “Was I being tactless? I can never tell.”

Jena was stiff as a board in his hold. Matt ignored it. He knew exactly how pliant she could become when he put in a little effort. The thought made his blood heat. Okay, so he hadn’t thought through the whole being Jena’s pretend boyfriend thing, but there was definitely an upside—he got to touch Jena again. Sure, he said he wouldn’t do that. He’d been determined to remain at a professional distance. But this didn’t count. It was all part of his duty to her—as a cop. Kind off. Maybe. Aw, to hell with it, he just wanted to hold her. Stuff being professional. There weren’t any rules against dating the women you were protecting. Hell, it wasn’t even an official job anyway. He nodded to himself. It was settled. There was nothing to stop him. He was dating Jena. He smiled at her as something settled within him. The anxiety of being around her and not touching her melted away. Yeah, he was definitely going to have a relationship with Jena. It was the right decision. Now he just had to tell her.

“You must be starving, princess,” he said softly. “You didn’t eat much for breakfast this morning.”

“Oh, she’ll be dieting,” Mona said before Jena had the chance to speak. “I’m glad you took my advice,” she said to Jena.

Matt felt the muscle in his jaw tick. “I really hope that’s not the case. You don’t need to diet. In fact, you lose one inch of that gorgeous body and I’ll tie you to the bed and force-feed you cupcakes. No man wants a skinny woman in his bed, isn’t that right, Gordon?”

The old man came up to stand on the other side of Jena. He folded his arms over his overalls. His face was shuttered and his eyes were hard. “Aye, that’s right. All these women trying to get the body of an emaciated wee boy. What man in his right mind finds that attractive. Unless, of course, he’s perverted and sick in the head. No, give me a woman with sexy curves any day of the week.”

Jena gave him a grateful smile and relaxed slightly. “Don’t let your wife hear you say that.”

“Now why would I look at another woman, when I found the perfect one?” His eyes twinkled.

Mona had obviously had enough. “It was nice meeting you both, but Jena’s taking me to see her other friends—Josh McInnes and his manager, Mitch. Mitch is here, right? I checked the web and it said he was here.”

Matt shook his head. “Jena and I have plans for the afternoon. Maybe some other time.”

“Jena.” Mona stared at her daughter, her smile fixed in place. “I came all this way to see you. Surely you have time for your mom.”

“Tell you what,” Matt said. “Why don’t we meet up for dinner later in the pub? That’s where all the locals hang out. You can usually find Josh there in the evening. Isn’t that right, Gordon?”

“Auch, aye, he loves the pub.”

“Really?” Mona perked right up, her need to spend time with her daughter totally forgotten. “Why didn’t you say so? That gives me the afternoon to get changed and organised. I came straight from the airport.”

The way she spoke implied she was waiting for a compliment on how great she looked.

“Aye, you look like you could use a spruce-up,” Matt said instead.

Jena coughed slightly and covered her mouth with her hand. From Matt’s viewpoint, he could see her hiding a smile. It warmed his heart. He never wanted to see that beaten and dejected look on her face ever again.

Mona sneered at Jena. “Maybe you could spare a couple of minutes of your precious time to show your mom how to get to your house.”

Jena froze. “You want to stay with me?”

“Where else would I stay?”

“You never stay with me. I mean ever. I left home ten years ago and you’ve never even visited, let alone spent the night.”

“You’ve never moved country before.”

Jena shot Matt a look tinged with panic. “It’s, I’m, the house…” She let out a sigh. “The house is a mess, Mom. It needs a lot of renovation. I don’t have space to put you up.”

“You’re sleeping there, aren’t you? I can sleep in your bed. You can take the couch.”

“Now, that would put me out a tad, seeing as I’m in that bed too,” Matt drawled.

Jena flicked him a look. She cleared her throat. “There are rooms above the pub. They’re really pretty. You’d be much more comfortable there.”

Her mother folded her arms and glared at Jena. Matt readied himself to intervene. “Why don’t you stay at Matt’s place and I’ll stay at yours, if it’s gonna be so horrible to share a house with me.”

“Can’t do that,” Gordon said. “Everybody in town knows Matt has a rat problem. They even had a video of it on in the pub. He’s stuck at Jena’s until it’s sorted.”

Matt smothered a grin. What he had was about a hundred soft toy rats, courtesy of his sisters.

Mona put her hand on her hip, drawing attention to the star tattoo that encircled her belly button on her very flat stomach. “You’re telling me I came all this way to spend money on a hotel room. What happened to family taking care of family?”

Matt almost choked. From the woman’s behaviour, she had no idea what family taking care of family meant.

“You’re totally right, of course,” Gordon said with a gleam in his eye. “A daughter should put her mother up, even if it is an inconvenience. After all, Jena, she did come all this way,
just
to see you. Pity, though.” He scratched his beard. “Those rooms in the pub are damn nice. Some of the guests for Josh’s wedding stayed there—they even have a celebrity page set up on Facebook for the hotel. It’s become
the
place to visit when you’re in Scotland.” He faked a hearty laugh. “The rooms are so good you can’t get some people out of them. Mitch Harris moved into one when Caroline had the baby. He says the castle is too noisy now and he doesn’t want to buy a house. He likes the food at the pub too much.”

Mona perked to attention. “Josh’s manager is living above the pub?”

Gordon shrugged, although his eyes held pure mischief. “Only when he’s in town. Which seems to be all the time these days. Can’t keep that boy away.”

Mona turned to Jena with a gleeful smile. “Why didn’t you tell me how great the pub is? If it’s good enough for Hollywood, it’s good enough for me. I mean, if Mitch Harris stays there, then that’s a recommendation in itself. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the chance to stay in a Scottish landmark.” She flashed a wide smile. She was backing out of the shop as she spoke, in a hurry to get back to the pub now she knew Mitch was in residence. She faked a yawn. “That trip really took it out of me. I mean, who can sleep on a plane? It’s a miracle I was able to drive from Glasgow without passing out. I’ll just go book a room before they sell out. We’ll meet tonight. What time do people eat around here?”

“Seven,” Matt said. “We’ll see you there at seven.”

“Great. Big kiss,” she said, then turned and practically ran from the shop.

As soon as the Wicked Witch of the West was out of the door, Jena pushed away from Matt. He instantly missed the soft warmth of her curvy body and scowled. She smacked him on the chest. It was like being swatted by a fly.

“Why did you let my mother think we were an item?” She spun on Gordon. “Why did you tell her Mitch was living at the pub? That’s mean.”

“Matt?” Gordon said.

“I’m on it.” He took out his phone and held a finger up to make Jena wait. “We’ll deal with the relationship thing in a minute.” She scowled. It was cute. “Mitch,” Matt said when he answered. “Jena’s mum is in town. She’s called Mona Sage. She’s a singer looking for a break and she seriously doesn’t deserve one. She’s scented your blood at the hotel. I’d get out before the shark gets you.”

Mitch thanked him for the heads-up and hung up. Matt turned to Jena, who had her arms folded and was tapping her toe in clear irritation. Now why didn’t she behave like this with the witch?

“Explain,” she demanded.

He let out a sigh. “She was horrible. I didn’t like it. She said you couldn’t get a decent man. I’m a decent man and I decided you could get me. Plus you need someone watching your back while she’s here, and it may as well be me. I’m already doing the job where Frank is concerned. Might as well double up.”

It sounded perfectly reasonable to him. Unfortunately, from the look on Jena’s face, she didn’t agree.

“The lad’s right,” Gordon said. “That woman is toxic. She’d walk over your broken body to get to Josh. You’re better off with someone in your corner, lass, when you deal with her.”

“What do you mean by ‘get you’, Matt?” She eyed him suspiciously.

Matt took a deep breath. Here goes. There was no point explaining the logic behind his decision. In his experience, male and female logic were two completely different beasts. Best to give her the final result of all his thinking. “I’ve decided to skip the whole dating thing and jump straight to the relationship. It’s safer.”

She blinked at him as Gordon laughed so loudly it echoed through the room.

“You’re serious? You want to be involved with me? Romantically?”

Matt folded his arms. “Don’t go getting all worked up about it. That leads to accidents. And I don’t want to be set on fire. A plain thank you will do just fine.” He stepped towards her. “We should really seal the deal on this new relationship with a kiss. Pucker up.”

Jena let out a frustrated wail, made a fist and thumped him in the stomach. Thankfully, she punched like a girl and his stab vest blocked most of the blow.

“Your sense of humour is sick,” she told him.

“Who says I’m joking. Close your eyes, Gordon, I’m going in.” With a grin, he stepped towards Jena.

“Ignore the idiot,” Gordon said through his laughter. “He’s right about one thing though. You need all the help you can get dealing with that woman.”

Jena threw up her hands. “I’ve been dealing with
that woman
my whole life. I don’t need backup to cope with my mom.” Hands on hips, she looked at the ceiling for a moment. Her pain was almost tangible. The sight of it made Matt ache, and from the look on Gordon’s face, it had the same effect on him. Jena’s head dropped back down. She looked so lost. “She’s a really focused person. She’s put a lot into her career. And she is good. Trust me. You’d want to hear her sing. All she needs is a little bit of luck to make it to the next level.”

“Is that you talking or your mum?” Gordon said gently.

“She wants it really badly. It’s all she can think about. She doesn’t realise how she comes across.” Jena wrapped her arms around herself again. She was breaking Matt’s heart. “Once she gets where she wants to be, she’ll calm down. She won’t be so insensitive to people.”

To her daughter, she meant. He could see it in her face. So earnest. So eager to believe the best of everyone, even as they walked right over her or treated her like muck on their shoes. He couldn’t bear to see her standing so alone any longer.

“Come here.” He pulled her into his arms.

“Matt, I’m over the joking.”

“It’s a friendly hug, nothing else.” If that was what it took to get her to come to him, then he’d roll with it. For now. “You’d give me one if I needed it. So shut up and enjoy. And don’t tell anyone or they’ll all want one.”

She laughed against his chest, but her arms threaded around his waist. She sank into him, and something within Matt settled. He had an overwhelming sense of being in the right place at the right time. Here, with this woman, lending her his strength when she needed it.

Gordon clasped his shoulder before taking off for the back of the shop, shaking his head in disgust as he did so.

Matt snuggled Jena closer, engulfing her with his heat. He stroked one hand over her hair while his other held her tight against him. If he had his way, nothing and no one would ever get close enough to hurt her again.

With that thought, Matt realised that his feelings for Jena ran a lot deeper than he’d suspected.

And he couldn’t bring himself to worry about it.

Not when holding her felt so completely and utterly right.

20

“We’re not in a relationship,” Jena said.

They were in Matt’s cop car, on the way to see Abby. Jena’s friend had called asking Matt to stop by, which had Jena worried. Matt was currently ignoring Jena as he drove out of town.

“One kiss does not make a relationship,” Jena said.

“It was more than a kiss.” His smug grin made Jena want to smack him. She restrained herself.

“It wasn’t even a real kiss. You only kissed me to prove a point.”

He cocked an arrogant eyebrow in her direction. Like he knew better.

“I’m not dating you.” She folded her arms and glared at him.

“Thank the Lord for that. Men only date you if they have a death wish.”

Jena wished his uniform came with a gun. She would have used it to shoot him.

“I’m not kissing you again, either. It’s not a relationship if I won’t kiss you.”

She squealed as the car suddenly lurched off the road. Matt turned to her, a sexy grin on his face.

“How about I kiss you, then? No pressure. Don’t feel the need to participate.”

Before she could get an objection out of her mouth, he’d leaned over, clasped the back of her neck and was pulling her towards him. Jena was embarrassed to say she didn’t put up any resistance. She’d liked the last kiss. She wasn’t above taking another one.

The little smile he gave her before his lips met hers made her think he might be able to read her mind on the matter. And then she wasn’t thinking at all. His lips were soft and firm. His touch was confident. He tasted like chocolate lemon Pop-Tarts—something he would probably take offence at if she told him. She made a note to tell him later.

As his tongue slipped past her lips, she let out a little sigh of delight. She was losing herself in him. And she loved it. Her fingers curled into the stiff material of his uniform. She pressed forward, seeking the heat of his body, the bone-melting awareness of his size and strength. The seatbelt tugged her back, making her groan in frustration.

All too soon, the kiss ended. Matt nipped her lower lip before caressing her cheek. Jena felt herself swaying into him.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered over her lips, “I’m okay with this not being a relationship.”

With a grin, he put the car in gear and swerved back into the road. Jena glared at him. She wasn’t sure what was going on—and she definitely wasn’t sure she wanted it to stop. She decided the best course of action was to ignore him and this thing that was happening between them.

Denial was good. She liked denial. As a life choice, it worked great.

Jena’s friend stayed in an old Victorian house in the hills outside of town. Only a small field separated her house from Jena’s. Abby owned the local mushroom farm, which sat in a section of the old abandoned mine—part of which ran under the field towards Jena’s house. Abby said the old Victorian house she lived in used to be the home of the mine manager, back in the day when the old mine was at its height. Being the home of the most important person in Invertary at that time, it had been built with status in mind.

The grey stone had been shipped in from Inverness; the long drive had been planted with poplars along each side to make it feel like you were driving through a regal tunnel to get to the house. The house itself was three stories high, with large bay windows and a grand entrance.

Fortunately, successive owners had taken the time to keep the house in a decent condition, and Abby had added her touches to it, to make it homely and welcoming. Abby was standing at the door when Matt’s car drove up. The dark circles under her eyes were getting worse, and Jena was worried about her.

“Aunty Jena’s here,” she called when Jena got out of the car.

There was a squeal from inside the house, and a few seconds later Katy barrelled out. She was dressed as a princess in a pink merengue gown and sparkling plastic tiara.

“Aunty Jena! Uncle Matty!” She flew down the steps, launching herself at Jena, who gave her a tight cuddle before she wriggled away to throw herself at Matt.

Jena shook her head with a grin. No matter how muggy the day, Katy was a breath of fresh air. You had to have something seriously wrong with you not to smile when that little girl was near.

“We need to get you one of those dresses, princess,” Matt said as he led her to the house with his hand on the small of Jena’s back. Even his slight touch made her feel gloriously boneless.
Ignore it. Deny it. It isn’t happening.

Yeah, maybe this denial thing was a bit broken.

Abby noticed his move and raised an eyebrow. Jena felt heat flush her cheeks.

“I’ve made tea and scones.” Abby gave Jena a hug, and she found herself clinging more tightly to Abby than usual. “Tough day, petal?”

“Mom’s here.”

“Well cluck in a bucket, I should have made chocolate cake.”

“Cluck in a bucket?” Matt said.

“Should I use foul language around my daughter?” Abby stood straight, her head high and not a stitch out of place.

“Instead you use
fowl
language?” Matt said.

“Funny guy,” Abby muttered.

“Do you even know how to swear, Abby? If you don’t, I can whisper some words in your ear for later.” Matt grinned.

Abby wagged a finger at him. “You’re a rascal, Matt Donaldson.”

“Aye, so I’ve been told. Now where are the scones? And what do you need me for?”

“It isn’t important.” Abby chewed her bottom lip, something she never did—it went against her very proper upbringing. “I wanted your advice on something. It can wait until we’ve had tea.”

“Happy to be of service. Especially when I’m being fed at the same time.”

Abby led the way through the grand hallway to the kitchen at the back of the house. Katy held her hands up to Matt, who picked her up without missing a beat and carried her to the food. He made impressed noises when the baby girl showed off the new nail polish she’d painted her fingers with—not just her nails, her
whole
fingers. And if Jena wasn’t mistaken, she’d also put lipstick on her eyebrows again.

The kitchen was huge, like the rest of the house. The Victorians loved their grand proportions. A large oak table took up a chunk of the floor space. The matching chairs had a selection of patchwork cushions in warm colours. It was peaceful, pretty and welcoming. Jena sank into a chair as Matt put Katy down in her play corner. Jena expected him to come sit beside them, but instead he sat on the rug beside the four-year-old and listened to her tell him all about Minnie Mouse and Donald getting into trouble for having a disco in the bathroom.

“Mum says Minnie’s not allowed to play with water anymore,” she said before looking at her mum. When she was convinced Abby wasn’t listening, she leaned towards Matt and cupped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t tell her, but it wasn’t Minnie who made the mess.” She giggled as she stage-whispered. “It was Donald.”

Matt tickled her. “And who helped Donald, you little monster?”

“I don’t know, Uncle Mattie.” Her eyes were wide with faux-innocence.

“Your mum’s in town, then?” Abby said as she handed Jena a cup of tea. In a pretty blue porcelain cup and saucer. Jena wasn’t even sure Abby owned a mug. “When did she get here?”

“Oh, I’d guess about thirty-six hours after Frank called and told her I was living in the same town as Josh McInnes.”

Abby grimaced. “I can’t say the words I’m thinking, but they’re bad ones.”

“Not bad enough,” Jena said.

“We should call Caroline and warn her that your mother is here to pester her husband.”

“I’ll do that.” Matt stood. “I need to make some calls anyway.”

He nabbed a plate, loaded it with scones and jam and headed out of the back door. He stayed close to the house but far enough away so he had the privacy he needed to talk. As soon as he was out of earshot, Abby turned to Jena.

“What’s going on with Matt? You two look cosy.” She waggled her eyebrows. It looked silly on a woman who was the walking definition of elegance.

Jena laughed. It felt good. “Nothing’s going on. He’s only sticking by me until Frank leaves town.”

“Uh, huh, and I’m the Queen of England. Pleased to meet you.”

“Are you really, Mum?” Katy sounded hopeful. Jena hid her chuckle behind her cup.

“No, sweetie,” Abby said. “The Queen is just a cousin.”